Hay and grain loader, unloader, and stacker.



PATENTED FEB. 5, 1907.

A. LAGE. HAY AND GRAIN LOADER, UNLOADE-R, AND STAQKER.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 11. 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT 1;

No. 84 3,539. PATENTED'TEB. 5, 190v. A. LAGE.

HAY AND GRAIN LOADER, UNLOADER, AND STAGKER.

APPLIOATTQN FILED SEPT. 11:1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

v 51wanfoz u z gasizaa de mmm rus NURRIS PETERS co., wAsHlNcruN, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUST LAGE, OF EVERLY, IOWA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 5', 1907'.

Application filed September 11,1905. Serial No. 277.887.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, AUGUST LAGE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Everly, in the county of Clay and State of Iowa, haveinvented a new and useful Hay and Grain Loader, Unloader, and Stacker;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in hay and grain loaders,unloaders, and stackers; and it consists, essentially, of atriangular-shaped frame or a base mounted upon suitable vehicle-wheelsand provided with a vertically-mounted shaft adapted to carry andsupport an elongated yard or arm having a hay or grain fork pivotallymounted upon the front portion thereof, said vertical shaft beingcapable of a limited rotation to permit of the ready swinging of theyard or arm carrying the hay or grain fork from one side to the other,and said yard or arm being adapted to oscillate up and down to enablethe hay or grain fork to take up or deliver its load, as will behereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the drawings, andparticularly designated in the claims.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide an improved mechanismfor facilitating the operation of loading, unloading, or stacking hay orgrain and to accomplish such result in the simplest and best possiblemanner.

A further object of my invention is to provide a construction of thecharacter indicated which shall be strong and durable, capable of readyand easy operation, combined with simplicity of parts and ease ofrepair.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals of referenceindicate corresponding parts, Figure 1 represents a perspective view ofmy improved machine with the horses detached therefrom and the yard orarm with its hay or grain fork in position to receive its load from thewindrows formed by sulky hay-rakes independent" of this machine, thepivoted lever 29 not being shown. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of myimproved machine with the yard or arm carrying the loaded hay or grainfork in an elevated position ready to dump or deliver its load to ahay-wagon or to stack in the open air. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional viewof the. vertical shaft carrying the yard or arm, showing its bearingsand connection With other parts of the machine. Fig. 4 is a detail sideView of the adjustable supporting-post upon one side of the machine.

In carrying out my invention the frame or body of the machine ispreferably formed of a triangular-shaped base 1, mounted upon suitablevehicle-wheels 2 at the front and rear parts of the same, as shown morefully in Fig. 1. Near the pointed end of said frame or base are securedtwo obliquelyslanting cross-beams 3 3, the latter projecting outwardly ashort distance from the side of the frame 1 to receive the lower end ofthe support 4, the upper end of the same being rigidly secured to thehead 5, which is also provided with similar supports 4:, extendingtherefrom to each side of the broad part of the said frame or base. Thevertical shaft 6 is mounted near its upper end in said head 5 and at itsbottom in the rest or support 7, secured to the cross-beams 3 3 in suchman ner that said shaft 6 is supported in a vertical position thereinand adapted to have a limited rotation for the purposes to behereinafter mentioned.

Near the upper part of the vertical shaft 6 is pivotally mounted thereonthe elongated yard or arm 8, which carries at its forward end thepivoted hay or grain fork 9, the several parts acting in connection witheach other in such manner as to permit the yard or arm 8 to beoscillated from side to side, to: have an upward and downward movementat its ends, and to permit the hay' or grain fork to also have a limitedupward and downward swing or movement for purposes hereinafterdescribed.

At or near the base of the support iis pro vided a sliding andadjustable post 10, which is mounted in clips 1 1, secured to saidsupport 4 and to the outer end of 3 to permit the post 10 to move freelytherein, said post be ing moved up or down upon the support 4 by meansof the pivoted levers 12,-connec'ting therewith and engaging with therack-bar 13, secured to the under part of the support- 4 to hold thelower pointed end of the sup porting-post into engagement withthe groundto prevent the machine from tilting over when the loaded fork is swungaround to deliver its load.

The elongated yard or arm 8" is composed I to able distance apart bycross-beams 8 and iron brace-rods 9. A truss formed of the elevatedframe 9 and the brace-rods 14, passing therethrough to both ends of theyard or arm, forms a strong, rigid, and light construction. Near thelower part of the vertical shaft 6 is provided an open frame 15,projecting outwardly therefrom a suitable distance and secured theretoat its inner ends and further supported by the side braces 15. This openframe 15 is adapted to receive a Windlass 16 near its outer end and asmaller Windlass 17 near the side of the vertical shaft 6, the free endof the rope or cable 18 passing over the pulleys 18, which are mountedupon shafts 18 in the ends of said open frame 15, and the one end of theyard or arm 8 being connected to the Windlass 16 so as to permit of theready elevation or depression of the yard or arm. The rope or cable 20,connecting the arm of the hay or grain fork with the smaller Windlass17, operates to raise or lower the said fork to receive or deliver itsload, said rope or cable passing from the arm of said fork over thepulley 20 on the top of the vertical shaft 6 down into engagement withsaid Windlass 17, as fully shown in the drawmgs.

The general construction of my improved machine being substantially asabove described, the operation of the same may be stated as follows: Thehorses are first at tached to the machine by the tree 22 on the pointedend of the same and the machine drawn into the field ready foroperation. The horses are then detached from the rear or pointed end ofthe machine and again attached, one on each side of the front or broadend of the same to the cross-bar 23, which extends entirely across andprojects outwardly from each side of the triangular base or frame 1, andthe fork 9 being lowered by the yard or arm 8 lies fiat upon the ground,as fully shown in Fig. 1, and as the machine is propelled forward thehay or grain lying in Windrows formed. by the ordinary horse hayrake istaken up or gathered by the fork 9 until a sufficient load is acquiredthereon. The driver, who sits upon the cross-beam 3, then detaches thehorse upon the right-hand side of the machine and attaches him to thering 24 upon the left-hand end of the crossbeam 23, so as to be out ofthe way during the operation of elevating and dumping the load of hay orgrain. The driver then operates the Windlass 16 to elevate the front endof the yard or arm carrying the loaded fork, and by pushing upon theopen frame 15 swings said yard or arm, with its loaded fork, over thehay-wagon or to the stack, as may be desired. Windlass 17 to cause thefork to drop down and deliver its load, when the several parts arereturned to their former position to again repeat the same operationabove described.

He then operates the smaller,

above described, the topping-off of the stack being accomplished by aman standing on the stack and forking the hay or grain by hand from themachine-fork untiLthe stack is completed.

To use the machine as an unloader, the machine-fork 9 is removed fromthe yard or arm 8 by pulling out the rod 25, which connects it thereto,and attaching in place thereof any style of grip-fork to the hook 26 inthe center of the cross-beam 27 at the front end of said yard or arm.The grip-fork takes its load from the stack and is then swung over thehay-wagon by means of the yard or arm, and its load deposited thereon.The fork may, however, be operated by a rope passing therefrom over thesmall pulley 28 at the foot of the vertical shaft 6 to a horse employedfor the purpose, either in unloading or stacking the hay or grain.

In order to hold the'arm 8 in its adjusted position when heavilyweighted, a pivoted lever 29, having ratchet-teeth 30, is provided,which will engage a suitable rod mounted in the arm 8. The lever can bereadily turned down when its use is not desired.

-When the team is hitched to cross-bar 23, a cable will be used for thepurpose of permitting the horses to keep safely out of the way of theforwardly and outwardly projecting members connected with saidcross-bar. Also said members may, if desired, be omitted from thedevice.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a wheeled frame, of a fork-arm mounted about avertical and a horizontal aXis and a fork pivoted to said arm andadapted to be thrown to a position to act as a rake.

2. The combination of the triangularshaped base, wheels at the threecorners of the same, a fork-arm mounted to swing about a vertical and ahorizontal axis, a fork pivoted to said arm, and an adjustable postcarried by the base and adapted to be thrown into engagement with theground to prevent the machine tilting over when the fork is thrown todeliver its load.

3. The combination with the base of wheels supporting the base, avertical post or shaft mounted to have a limited rotary motion on thebase, a head in which said shaft or post turns, supports connecting thehead and the base, an arm pivoted intermediate its ends to said post orshaft, a fork pivoted to one end of the arm, and adapted to be thrown bysaid arm to a position to act In testimony whereof I have hereto affixedas a rake, a frame secured to and extending my signature in the presenceof tWo Wit from the post or shaft, a windless and cable nesses.

carried by the frame .and connected to the AUGUST LAGE. 5 fork foroperating it, and a Windlass and X Vitnesses:

cable carried by the frame, and connected to l GEO. NUGENT,

the arm for operating it. 1 LEWIS SCHARNBERG.

